Theistic Evolution?

Question

Why do Christians believe that God would use Evolution as a way to create? God rested; Evolution is ongoing. Not only is theistic evolution a contradiction in terms--like the phrase "flaming snowflakes"--but in the words of the Nobel prize winning evolutionist Jacques Monod: "Natural selection is the blindest, and most cruel way of evolving new species... The struggle for life and elimination of the weakest is a horrible process, against which our whole modern ethic revolts... I am surprised that a Christian would defend the idea that this is the process which God more or less set up inorder to have evolution." Also, in Herbrew, when it says "And the Morning and the evening were the 1st, 2nd,3rd... day",it is talking is talking about a real 24-hour period. When there is no ordinal in front of the word "day", then it can mean a week, month, year... whatever. God doesn't have 2 painfully plod thru millions of mistakes, misfits, and mutations inorder to have fellowship with humans

Now I am not saying evolution does not happen -- I know it does! I know that evolution within fixed kinds happens every day

Ths info can be found in "The FACE that demonstrates the FARCE of Evolution" and "The Bible Answer Book". Both by Hank Hanegraaff

"Within fixed kinds" means "within the same species".

To the Evolutionists reading this, I wrote this for Christians, not u guys

Answer 1

VERY well said.
After all when someone brings religion or any other superstition into a scientific discussion (like Evolution) all they are doing is showing their ignorance.
Religion has no place in science just as ideas and thinking have no place in religion.

Answer 2

Inter-species evolution does take place. It is closer to adaptation than mutation.

But there is absolutely no concrete evidence of one species evolving into another. Therefore man could NOT have evolved from apes.

By saying that God could not create the universe in 6 24hour days is putting a limit on God and we know God has no limits and can do what he wants to. The earth was created in 24hour days just as the Bible states. The Morning and Evening and the Sun and Moon were used as measurements of time from the day they were created, just as they are used today. There is no reason to believe that the creation process took more than 6 literal days and no evidence to support that theory.

The passage containing the most serious implications in this matter, however, is Exodus 20:11. By announcing: “For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is...,” the Bible makes it clear that the entirety of God’s earthly creation was brought into existence during those six days. The apostle John added that “all things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3). If God created the Earth, the heavens, the seas, and everything in them in six days, what does that omit? It omits absolutely nothing! Add to that the statements found in Genesis 1:31 and 2:1, and the case is strengthened considerably. In Genesis 1:31, as He surveyed everything He had made, God proclaimed it “very good”—the Hebrew phrase representing completion and perfection. In Genesis 2:1, He then stated that the creation was “finished,” indicating an action once and for all completed, not continuing into the future.

See the articles below for a longer explanation.

Answer 3

Theistic Evolution is just an excuse for those who can not believe the Bible nor the physical evidence extant in the earth.
They don't realize that theistic evolution is a total contradiction. It contradicts the scriptures (The Bible maintains a 6 literal day creation- even specifying "morning and evening" to prevent anyone fromn "interpreting" a day as any other period of time)- AND, if we were to accept theistic evolution, we'd have to deny the flood, as evolution is built upon the premise that there were no catostrophic events throughout the ages that impacted the earth- which is why they try and asign millions of years to the physical record. Yet, we see marine fossils at even alpine levels of every major mountain range on earth- a bold confirmation of the flood that evolutionists must invent complex and unscientific schemes to explain away.

For more info, see The institute for Creation Research:
http://www.icr.org

and Answers In Genesis:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/

These groups are composed of highly educated scientists who believe in a literal 6 day creation, and who can point out all the contradictions, assumptions and absurdities of the evolution fairytale from a scientific standpoint.

>>>also believe that Adam and Eve spent millions of years in the Garden of Eden. There is no period of time mentioned for how long they were there<<<<

"And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died." -Genesis 5:5

Answer 4

The fact that God rested is evidence for evolution. We know for a fact that new species have replaced earlier species ever since life began on earth. Therefore, one of two things must be true. Either God has continued creating new species on an ongoing basis, or new species have developed from pre-existing species. However the Bible plainly tells us that God created initially, and then rested, that is, stopped creating. Therefore the new species that have come into existence since then cannot have come into existence by direct creation. Therefore they must have come into existence some other way, either by spontaneously popping out of thin air, or by gradual transformation of pre-existing forms. "Evolution within fixed kinds" does not explain the appearance of dinosaurs billions of years after the earth was created - or the appearance of mammals and birds millions of years after the dinosaurs. Evolution within fixed kinds is obviously the mechanism of evolution. If you take a "fixed kind" and alter it in a thousand small ways, what you end up with is a new "fixed kind". Plain common sense. Otherwise you end up in the absurd position of insisting that A and B are exactly the same thing, even though they differ in a thousand ways. What kind of logic is there in that view??
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Answer 5

Maybe because it is reasonable and the best idea we have yet.

Nothing says God could NOT use Evolution. And it may be cruel but it ensures the strongest, most adaptable survives and the static weak are left behind to create a better world. You mention it is cruel...look at the world..it is sweet, beautiful and horribly cruel. No one disputes the eagle's right to eat but it is a cruel process and even more cruel if the prey has babies that will now starve...but that's life.

It is not a contradiction in terms and I disagree with your statement that it is

Answer 6

Ok, IMHO Christians who believe in theistic evolution, each day is a 1000 years, a pre-adamite society or the gap theory do so because they are trying to find a balance between what they learned in school and what they learn in church, and the church is not teaching them. Too many churches are caving on the idea of a literal Genesis. Maybe the pastors just do not know the answers, maybe they too have been taught these ideas by someone else. You have to realize that the belief in a literal Genesis has been out there all along, but it is only in the last 30 years that we have started coming up with scientific answers to refute some of the "science" of evolution. A huge break in this happened with the eruption of Mt St Helens in 1980. All of the sudden we could show how water can cut through rock rapidly, how the different strata do not need millions of years to form, how we had seen rocks form, but the carbon dating was not accurate, how the petrified red wood forest could have formed in a much shorter amount of time. But these answers are not being taught in schools. Most parents and even grandparents went to school while primarily evolution was taught (if it was not taught exclusively taught) and evolution and millions and billions are not taught as theory, but fact. The short comings in these theories are glossed over and no dissenting opinion is allowed to be presented (even in its scientific form) because that would be a conflict of church and state.

So people come up with an idea that makes sense to them to help reconcile faith and scientific "fact" and theistic evolution is the result. And talking to some of these people, they are just as firm in their belief and unwilling to see another position as many atheists. It is all conditioning.

All in all we are human as much as we try to be God. The other day I answered a question from a girl who said the idea of heaven did not make sense to her. So she had come up with her own idea of what happens when we die and decided to believe it. My mother cannot reconcile a person who lives a good life and does good work, but never believes in God or Jesus going to hell and a murderer having the ability to be forgiven and go to heaven. She says "my god is not like that" Which god is that? There is only one God, and anything else is our attempt to put Him in a box or put our own ideas before Him. We just have to keep talking respectfully and lovingly and pray we make a difference to someone.

In the end though, the person who beleives in theistic evolution is still able to go to heaven if they believe in God. The problem comes down the line with their children or grandchildren who have not been taught that the Word of God is absolute. So just keep talking.

As for evolution is happening...you really need to make a distinction between micro and macro evolution. Yes things are "evolving" on a micro scale, but nothing is being added that makes them a superior version.

And most creationist do believe in natural selection. The stronger, healthier creature does survive better. It just is not part of an evolutionary cycle.

As for kinds, they are not species. Species are something that cannot breed with another species. The other day there was a species of leopard discovered. Why can this leopard not be bred with other leopards? Zebras and donkeys are different species yet they can come together to create a zonkey. A killer whale and a bottle nose dolphin create a false killer whale. We do not know what "kinds" means definitively. But some things we can guess at are the cat family (lions, tigers, leopards, cougar, house cat), horse family (donkey, horse, zebra, possibly deer, antelope, etc), bear family (panda, grizzley, black, brown, polar)

Answer 7

I believe that God created the world and everything in it in 6 days (that's 24 hours X 6) then rested.

I also believe that Adam and Eve spent millions of years in the Garden of Eden. There is no period of time mentioned for how long they were there, and my theory is supported by the fact that God told them not to eat the "apple" because surely they would die. Which meant before they took a bite, they would not die.

Answer 8

Why did every one all of a sudden just choose to accept EVOLUTION??? If evolution if JUST a theory, and the bible is actual HISTORICAL FACT then why aren't schools at least letting kids learn BOTH sides of the possibilities???

Answer 9

I agree. If theistic evolution were true, why did god waste hundreds of millions of years with dead ends and extinction? Why not just put man on the earth from the beginning?

Answer 10

Um, this comes from a person, Jacques Monod, who also knows that it is really stupid to require the inhabitants of this reality to EAT each other...and really, truly, stupidly gross the elimination of that process? What is his point????

Answer 11

"Within fixed kinds?" Please. Define "kind". There's no micro- and no macro-. Just pure, sweet evolution, and more evolution.

"Can you explain scientifically the genetic mechanism which permits all manner of 'variation’ within a 'kind' but somehow slams the door shut at the 'kind barrier', preventing one 'kind' from 'varying' into another kind'?" -- Ian Wood, responding to creationists chanting 'micro but not macro'.